For the “Games + Communication Ante-Conference” Friday, May 24, 2019 – Washington, DC http://icagamesanteconf.info
WHEN: Papers due January 31; day long conference on Friday, May 24, 2019
LOCATION: Washington, DC at the AU Game Lab
The ICA Game Studies Division and American University (AU) request proposals for papers, unusual panels and demos for a one-day conference in Washington, DC on the intersection of games, research in the field of communication, policy, and innovative methods. The event will be hosted in the new AU Game Lab and feature a reception afterward. This is a deliberately intimate event. Registration will be capped at 50 people, with priority to speakers to reward participation – so submit! Cost will be minimal, primarily for food and facilities, and likely to be well under $100, depending on the sponsorships we obtain. If your organization would like to be a sponsor, let us know. WHO SHOULD SUBMIT: Game and communication scholars – but also designers, DC game strategists and funders. BACKGROUND: This is a new twist on traditional academic conferences, with several unusual formats and some DC specialties including government funding and policy implications for games research. Today, the study of games influences design, shapes our understanding of society, and is applied in domains from education to healthcare, museums and urban planning. All are welcome. Emerging technologies, including Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, use game engines even when applied to broader communicative purposes. OUR GOAL: We are deliberately hosting an “Ante-Conference” to allow for more provocative content than that usually encountered in traditional academic venues. Therefore, we not only request traditional research papers, but also solicit “ideas beyond research,” including failures on which scholars can build, methods to link design principles to theories, and workshops to probe genuinely difficult topics of game research and design. Traditional scholarship is still welcome, but the proposal should address take into account the unique themes and goals of this conference. DC NETWORKING IDEAS: We also are looking for ideas on how the event might best tap into Washington DC’s rich universe of federal funding agencies, policymakers and design practitioners. Currently we are considering inviting select representatives to a networking reception at the end of the day, possibly with a keynote panel just beforehand. The focus will be on how we should be improving the connection between research and policy/funding/design. Ideas in this direction can be submitted as an email inquiry or as a more formal panel (see their website). Conference Committee: Chair: Maxwell Foxman, University of Oregon Co-Chair: Benjamin Stokes, American University Advisor: Rabindra Ratan, Michigan State University